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Al-Shabab's violent reach

A young boy leads the hard-line Islamist al-Shabab fighters as they conduct military exercise in northern Mogadishu's Suqaholaha neighborhood, Somalia, Jan. 1, 2010.

Al-Shabab have claimed responsibility for the gun and grenade attack on a shopping mall in Nairobi, Kenya this week which has left dozens dead and wounded, apparently in retaliation for Kenya's military participation in peace-keeping efforts in Somalia.

Kenyan army soldiers stand in a dugout position at their base in Tabda, inside Somalia, Feb. 20, 2012.

Somali militant group al-Shabab have claimed responsibility for the gun and grenade attack on a shopping mall in Nairobi, apparently in retaliation for Kenya's military participation in peace-keeping efforts in Somalia.

Credit: Ben Curtis/AP

Somalis observe the remains of a vehicle used in a car bomb attack in the capital Mogadishu, Feb. 8, 2012.

The attack was claimed by a spokesman for Somalia's al-Shabab Islamist insurgency.

Credit: Farah Abdi Warsameh/AP

Four-year-old Said Nor, a malnourished child from southern Somalia, sits in a camp in Mogadishu, July, 28, 2011.

Al-Shabab militants killed men who tried to escape the famine with their families, saying it was better to starve than accept help from the West.

The World Food Program said it could not reach 2.2 million people in need of aid in the militant-controlled areas in southern Somalia because of insecurity.

Credit: Farah Abdi Warsameh/AP

Members of Somalia's al-Shabab jihadist movement are seen during exercises at their military training camp outside Mogadishu, Nov. 4, 2008.

Credit: AP

Kenyan soldiers serving with the African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM) sit on a flat-bed truck as a convoy makes its way between the port and the airport in Kismayo, southern Somalia, Oct. 2, 2012.

Credit: Stuart Price/AU-UN IST/AP

A wounded man stands at the scene of an explosion in Mogadishu, Oct. 4, 2011.

A rescue official said at least 55 people were killed after a car laden with explosives blew up in front of the Ministry of Education in the Somali capital of Mogadishu, blamed on al-Shabab militants.

Credit: Mohamed Sheikh Nor/AP

AU soldiers from Uganda look at some of the weapons recovered from members of Somalia's Al-Qaeda-linked al-Shabab group after they gave themselves up to African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM) forces, Sept. 22, 2012.

Somali women carry weapons during a demonstration organized by the Islamist al-Shabab group which is fighting the Somali government in Mogadishu, July 5, 2010.

Credit: Abdurashid Abikar/AFP/GettyImages

This handout picture from The African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM) shows an AMISOM soldiers smoking a cigarette while another washes his uniform in a house captured from the control of the al-Shabab insurgents in the Sigaale District of Mogadishu, Dec. 15, 2010.

The fighting broke out in the southern district of Karan after Somali government forces tried to retake positions previously lost to insurgent fighters of the al-Shabaab Islamist movement and Hezbul Islam opposed to the Somali government.